The sharply divided U.S. Senate on Sept. 28 effectively killed a bill aimed at stopping the flow of manufacturing jobs overseas, five weeks before key elections shaped by anger at high unemployment.
Lawmakers voted 53-45 to formally open debate on the legislation, falling short of the 60 votes needed.
"The bill we tried to pass today is based on simple common sense," Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said after four Democrats and one of their independent allies helped to doom the measure.
"Republicans continued their job-killing agenda today by protecting these tax breaks for CEOs who offshore American jobs, and preserving the same failed Republican policies that cost eight million Americans their jobs," he said.
The White House's Republican foes had mocked the bill as pure pre-election posturing, a belated effort to soothe deep U.S. voter anger at historically high unemployment near 10%.
"This is about as pure a political exercise as you can get," said Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. "And in my view it's an insult to the millions of Americans who want us to focus on jobs."
The measure included a package of tax incentives for hiring inside the United States and penalties for shuttering a U.S. plant in favor of opening one overseas.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
